Adopted Territory: Transnational Korean Adoptees and the Politics of Belonging

“They Were Strangers Who Loved Me”: Discussions, Narratives, and Rituals During Korean Adoptees’ Initial Reunions with Birth Families

“…Raised predominantly in White, middle-class homes, Korean adoptees have often been viewed as orphans who were fortunate to be given families and lives that they would have otherwise lacked. Yet, as E. Kim (2010) writes, "[Korean adoptees] are like holographs-turned one way, they appear to be among the most privileged of cosmopolitans, turned the other, they are the ultimate subalterns as 'orphaned ' and 'abandoned' children" (p. 8). Research suggests that, for adoptees, feelings of loss and abandonment are common (Lifton, 1975;Powell & Afifi, 2005;Smolin & Bartholet, 2012).…”

Making Sense of Loss and Belongingness: Korean Transracial Adoptees' Journey from Europe to Korea

“…The country that adopted the greatest number of Korean adoptees was the United States (111,574), followed by France (11,183), Sweden (9,515), Denmark (9,355), Norway (6,411), the Netherlands (4,099), and Switzerland (1,111) (E. J. Kim, 2010). Reflecting the country with the highest number of transracial adoptees, many studies have focused on Korean-born adoptees growing up in the US.…”

“Making families”: parenting and belonging in transnational adoption in Flanders

“…These studies most often use quantitative methods, which as Willing (2010) argues, seem to be 'incongruent with many of the themes and issues in transnational adoption'. Moreover, the often 'pathology oriented' perspective of these studies tends to 'take an individuated view of adoptees' (Kim 2010) and fails to take into account the social, political and ideological contexts that shape the adoptive families' experiences.…”